The Atonement
by Hikaru Irving
Summary: Oneshot, xover, postgame A year after the world's true regeneration, a certain unsavory aspect of Lloyd's past comes back to haunt him. Nothing he will ever do will justify the crime he and his companions committed when they destroyed Palmacosta.


Hikaru: I got this idea after thinking how hard Luke had it after he'd been tricked into destroying an entire city and ending thousands of innocent lives. Well, the only way Lloyd's team had acknowledged destroying Palmacosta was in the Aifread sidequest, and that's optional. Poor Neal ...

Disclaimer: Don't own, don't make profits, etc.

Hikaru: On another note, this can be considered a companion piece to Planet Jumper. The main idea is that Origin put gateways to link the worlds of the universe together, the gateways being Flamberge and Vorpal swords. "Memories" are a big part of that concept.

--

Lloyd didn't quite know why he was trekking all the way to the mountains in the Meltokio region to Shadow's temple--the others had all decided against it, and for Lloyd to be going alone, never mind at all, would be extremely dangerous. The last time they'd gathered at Shadow's temple, they'd had to fight Abyssion, a man hell bent on resurrecting the most dangerous of demons. They'd barely escaped that one alive.

So why now was Lloyd traveling to the place on his own?

It'd been a year since the world's reunification. Heavy change was already underway, in Sylvarant and Tethe'alla, the most important changes being the abolishment of the Church of Martel, the ban on using Exspheres, and changes had to made to maps of the world. When Origin had melded the worlds together in their original form, the continents of Sylvarant and Tethe'alla had mingled, and the two worlds' boundaries were no longer discernable.

"Collecting" the Exspheres was no minor task. Going around Sylvarant and collecting them was easy because the only Exspheres there had been in the human ranches, and most of those were destroyed, thus destroying all the Exspheres with them. The problem was going around Tethe'alla and collecting them. It'd been hard enough to convince the king to abolish the Chruch of Martel, a feat people the world over still protested, but the king was still adamantly denying Lloyd's request, even with Zelos's help. But now that the Chruch was gone, Zelos's rights as the Chosen were gone as well, the only thing keeping him in high society his family's vast fortune and estate.

So even Zelos's influence with His Majesty of Tethe'alla waned.

Maybe Lloyd decided to do something else for a change of scenery or pace, something new.

Something new was just what he'd gotten one morning. Dirk had helped him build a small boat with which to travel about the world, and he'd stopped at Luin's port--the newly rebuilt city was as lively as ever--for the night. How anyone knew where Lloyd was without his telling was beyond him, but the daughter of Luin's new mayor had come to port to find his ship to deliver the letter.

There could be no mistake about it--it was addressed to him, the savior of the two worlds. Lloyd didn't quite like that title ... after all, there was no way he could have done it on his own. All the others contributed a great deal toward a common goal--to stop Mithos Yggdrasill, revive the Giant Kharlan Tree, and reunite the two worlds.

The letter was written in an informal hand--the handwriting itself wasn't exactly calligraphy, but it wasn't chicken scratch, either. It had clear instructions to come to the deepest level of Shadow's temple, that the writer had wanted to ... talk with him. About what exactly the letter did not say, only that the need for Lloyd to talk with the writer was urgent.

Lloyd had never seen Kratos's handwriting, but the way the letter was worded reminded Lloyd very much of his biological father--and every time he thought of him, there would be pangs of guilt. Kratos did voice going to Derris-Kharlan of his own volition, but Lloyd could not help but think he had somehow coerced the man into it. Kratos mentioned something about a half-elf of Cruxis remaining would make the lives of the half-elves difficult, but ... what about Yuan? Despite the man being the leader of the Renegades, he was a half-elf of Cruxis first. And besides, Kratos had been human.

Lloyd ducked out of the hot sun of the late afternoon into the archway that was the beginning of Shadow's temple. The darkness was even more complete with the Spirit reawakened, so Lloyd rummaged in his bag for a time and withdrew a small candle. The Blue Candle had seen much use, but Lloyd had gotten more of it from Sheena's friends prior to his trek. He fumbled with matches until he managed to light it within its lantern and he continued onward.

The only thing Lloyd was worried about were the monsters. The monsters in Shadow's temple were mostly undead ones, and Professor Sage had said that magicked attacks worked better than physical attacks. Lloyd had plenty of quartzes with him, but there was no use taking chances. If he came across more than a few, more than he could handle on his own, he would simply run.

After all, discretion was the better part of valor.

Even with the Blue Candle, the deepest levels of Shadow's temple were so very dark, the darkness pressed against Lloyd's eyes and the Candle's effect didn't go as far as it had on the upper levels. He suddenly wished he had thought to persuade someone else to come with him, anyone who could manipulate mana to generate light. Colette jumped in his mind quickly.

His footsteps echoed on the smooth floor, and Lloyd knew he had come to the deepest level when he recognized the glyph on the ground--it was Shadow's glyph, and his altar was just ahead of him. The Blue Candle's effect was enough to light the entire platform, and he set the lantern down at the foot of the stairs. He turned, and gaped.

There was indeed someone waiting for him here in the deepest levels of Shadow's temple. But it was not Kratos. Not that Lloyd had been particularly hopeful--the man was planets away by now, for Martel's sake!--but it still stung. Lloyd approached awkwardly. He did not recognize the stranger.

The stranger was young, he was probably no older than Lloyd at seventeen or eighteen, but it was the way he stared at Lloyd--those emerald green eyes seemed so ... empty. Lifeless. No better than Colette's clouded eyes had been when she had lost her soul as a part of the angel transformation.

But as soon as Lloyd stepped forward, those eyes glimmered with an almost golden glow--Lloyd rubbed his eyes, his mind must be playing tricks on him for being in the dark for so long.

As Lloyd got closer, he knit his brows together incredulously. This young man looked familiar ... he couldn't quite put a finger on it.

Then he saw the red hair.

Fiery red, paling into fire gold at the ends.

Granted, the whole color was different, but the red hair reminded Lloyd of Zelos, probably because the hair was long, falling over its owner's shoulders to stop mid-back.

The stranger was wearing strange clothing, now that Lloyd had an opportunity to look. A dark green scarf wrapped about his neck accentuated the overcoat that was silvery white but hemmed with the same green, same going for the sleeve cuffs--the sleeves themselves ended at the wrist. The coattails were a good length, just an inch or two shy of the ground. To complete the look the young man's pants were black, and so were his shoes.

Belted to the stranger's waist was a sword most peculiar.

If Lloyd had to compare it to something, the strange sword reminded him of a Tethe'allan tuning fork, an instrument used to measure sound waves.

"So, uhm ..." Lloyd began lamely, not really knowing how to start the conversation. So he withdrew from his pocket the letter he'd received almost three days prior. "You--you said you and I needed to ... talk?"

Urgh, so lame! He should've started with an introduction, but it seemed this stranger already knew him ... so well, in fact, that he knew more beyond Lloyd's name and deeds. He had seemed to know ... things that a stranger shouldn't have.

Like the pact with Origin and the Eternal Sword, for example--and the two halves of the Eternal Sword Origin had created.

The stranger stepped forward, that golden spark in his eye, and instinctively Lloyd stepped back.

"Yes, there is a need to talk." The stranger said, but underneath his voice there were much deeper undertones, as if ... someone or something else were talking with him--or else through him.

"Everyone in this world calls you a hero. They refuse to see the crimes you've committed. Or maybe ... they don't know about them."

He took a step forward, and Lloyd stepped back. Lloyd's hands brushed the hilts of his sword, the Material Blade. He promised his mother to leave his father's sword by her side, but ... he found he still had need of its services yet. Besides, so long as Lloyd had the Exsphere, his mother would be with him, and his father by carrying his sword.

But the stranger had not yet drawn his blade, so Lloyd stayed his hand.

"Crimes?" He asked, brow quirked. "How is saving the two worlds and putting an end to Mithos's Age of Lifeless Beings a crime?"

He didn't care if there was a chance that the stranger didn't know about Mithos or his planned age, but given from how he knew about the Eternal Sword and the pact with Origin, he must know the reasons behind them.

The stranger seemed smirk. He put a hand on his sword--dimly Lloyd noticed he was left handed--but did not draw.

"The crime of ignorance."

Lloyd took a few steps toward the stranger, jaw unhinged.

"Ignorance?" He said. "Just what pray tell were we--was I--ignorant about?! We knew the truth of the Kharlan War, we knew the truth of the Hero Mithos, we knew ... all of it."

The stranger shook his head, no.

"You ran ahead thinking you were doing something good--but it backfired."

"When did--" Lloyd stopped, frigid realization creeping up on him.

There was an instance, if only one, where their ignorance had cost them greatly. Thinking they were doing good ... when was ... then it hit him.

"N-no way ..." Lloyd muttered, and with horror he realized he was shaking.

Kratos had tried to warn them. Breaking the mana links would break the protection around the seed of the Giant Tree, and worse, the two worlds were trying to split apart. Later, after the chaos that resulted from the Giant Tree germinating in a twisted form, Kratos had said something about if it were not for the Giant Tree, the two worlds would have separated--

"... And been consumed by the void." Lloyd murmured in disbelief.

The temples where the Sylvarantian Spirits were contained were destroyed, all of them. The Triet ruins, the Balacruf tombs, the Thoda Geyser, and the Tower of Mana. Each of them destroyed to be forever gone.

Yes, that had been brought about by their ignorance. Kratos had the information and tried to warn them against it, but he had failed to stop them, courtesy of Yuan.

All the blame had been shoveled onto Yuan for putting their team up to it.

But Lloyd realized it was his team's actions that squeezed the trigger.

As if he could read Lloyd's mind, the stranger glared, those eyes narrowing--by now his eyes were no longer green but flaring a heated molten gold.

"You still don't see it?" He asked venomously. "You didn't destroy just the five seals of Sylvarant."

Lloyd gulped the lump down his throat, trying to think--but he didn't need to. He knew what the stranger was alluding to.

"I ... I didn't." He ground out, his throat becoming tight and his mouth ran dry. Tears began to bead at his eyes. "I didn't ..."

The stranger nodded.

Lloyd shook his head, furiously wiping away the tears.

"I didn't ... I didn't destory Palmacosta!"

By that alone he admitted his guilt.

Voices filled his head, the voices of the city's people--

_As long as we have Governor-General Dorr, we'll never give in to the Desians!_

_The people of Palmacosta are strong._

_Oh, Lady Colette, the Chosen of Mana!_

_The Chosen herself has come to save us?_

_Lloyd, stop! Do you want to turn this city into the next Iselia?_

_Daddy, I've been good ... but my dad hasn't come back yet! He was taken away by the Desians!_

_Mom ... these are the same monsters who took Grandma away!_

_Neil ... where's Neil?_

_Governor-General Dorr ..._

Tears blurred his vision--he could never forget how he felt when they flew over the ruins of Palmacosta--at first they didn't know why the city was in ruins like that, but they saw telltale evidence of what destroyed it--the roots of the Giant Tree, which they had resurrected. Nobody addressed this newfound guilt, instead pushing it all on Yuan, the man who suggested unraveling the mana links.

And they ... rectified the situation, didn't they? They prevented the twisted tree from destroying the two worlds ... didn't they?

Didn't that make up for it?

"Nothing you do, however grand, however the remaining people on the world--who don't know of your lackluster past--see you, nothing will ever bring those people back. It's too late to change the past. Thousands of innocent lives were lost in an instant ... all because of you."

The stranger drew his blade, the strange sword the likes of which had never been seen on Aselia.

Lloyd drew the Material Blade, Vorpal--Dirk--in his right hand, Flamberge--Kratos--in his left. The stranger charged, and the battle began. The stranger was no novice to the sword, and here Lloyd was thinking that Kratos had been right during those training sessions--using two swords deviates from the way the sword was intended to be used, and that left more openings that way.

But then again ... if Lloyd had his own style, that would make it tougher for the enemy--he would be unfamiliar with his style.

Lloyd's attacks had been clumsy when he first began to fight in real battles, but under Kratos's tutelage he had improved greatly--that he had bested Kratos in combat not once but three times proved that.

Lloyd's attacks now were coordianted, precise--like an elegant dance, Regal once complimented.

But the stranger was none too shabby himself. He countered Lloyd's thrusts and strikes with astounding precision and timing--and he had first blood.

Lloyd staggered back at the shock of getting hit--his blood fell in droplets on the dark platform, blooming on the stone like little rosettes of crimson. It was a small cut, to be sure, and shallow, but the wound on his cheek wept blood, he felt it streaming down his face in a small stream.

Drawing a deep breath, Lloyd leapt at the stranger, bringing his swords against the redhead's in a fierce deadlock--the stranger glowed a whitish gold, and Lloyd gasped--

He _saw._

A city built in a crater, enveloped in a deadly, dark mist. A sort of poison, it seemed. Deep in the city, there were mines. In the mining tunnels was where the poison was thickest, and a small group of people ventured deeper in the mines, at a strange device. One of them he recognized with a start--it was the red-haired stranger. He was dressed differently, but it was definitely him.

His companion--mentor, it seemed?--ordered him to stand before a strange device, a ... ring? The red-haired stranger glowed gold, the same glow he was glowing now in his deadlock with Lloyd, and a terrible power was unleashed.

The ring crumbled, and in turn so did the city--and undoubtedly the people trapped within. Everything crumbled and fell into a deep, dark abyss of poison mist--

Lloyd was thrown from the stranger, skidding on the platform as he shakily held his Material Blade in a defensive manner. Panting for breath, suddenly exhausted, he stared in disbelief at the stranger, who remained calm. The stranger walked toward Lloyd, his sword held in a strong grip. Lloyd's blood dripped off the blade.

"Y-you ..." Lloyd gasped, panting for breath. "You ... destroyed a ... city ..."

The name leapt unbidden in Lloyd's mind.

_Akzeriuth._

"You killed them all!" Lloyd shouted, struggling to his feet. "Thousands of people ... dead in an instant ..."

He realized what he was saying--was that a memory, shown by the stranger's own volition?

"I paid for my mistake with my life." he said, raising the foreign blade. "So why do your mistakes go unheeded? Why is it that you continue to live when thousands of others are dead by your hand?"

_Death._

Lloyd had made his feelings about death known before to the people he held most dear.

With renewed strength Lloyd swung at the stranger, sparks flying as he attacked ruthlessly.

"Because--I'm working to correct my mistakes!" He shouted heatedly, tears falling down his face, mingling with his blood. "Nothing will ever bring them back, that's true--but I have to live a life worthy of that sacrifice!"

The stranger seemed to smile wryly as he parried Lloyd's attack and pushed the dual swordsman away.

"Besides," Lloyd panted, garnet eyes locked with the eerie gold of the stranger's, "you're just running away if you die."

The stranger glowed again with that ominous golden light--with a jolt Lloyd was reminded of the pool of golden mana that had radiated from Colette on Tethe'alla's dragon's nest--and he swung in wide arc.

Lloyd leapt to avoid it, and when it was readily apparent he wouldn't make it, unbidden his turquoise wings flowered from his back, carrying him well above the attack.

He touched down on the platform, shaky and panting.

Lloyd tilted his head to one side, staring curiously at the stranger--his glow had ebbed, and he looked ... transparent?

Lloyd sucked in a breath.

The stranger was ... _disappearing._

He ran forward, dropping his swords, throwing a hand out--only to have said hand go right through the redhead's body. He couldn't be ... no!

"No!" Lloyd shouted hoarsely, trying again and again, failing again and again to grab a hold of the stranger. "You can't die ... you can't just ..."

He was beginning to fade completely, the darkness overtaking him. He gave Lloyd a sad smile.

"You're just ... running away if you die!" Lloyd shrieked, falling to his knees.

The stranger began to glow gold again, but he was still quite transparent. He held out a hand, touched Lloyd's shoulder with it--

A sharp pain flared in Lloyd's head as he received the memory--and his jaw dropped.

"You're the one ..." Lloyd whispered. "You're the one I saw when I was on Derris-Kharlan ... who had Flamberge and Vorpal."

The stranger smiled sadly, withdrawing his hand. He sheathed his sword, the strange foreign blade.

He mouthed a single phrase.

"No, don't go!" Lloyd shouted again, reaching out. "Luke, you can't just die! You've got people ... waiting for you, right? Luke!"

But the stranger simply shook his head, vanishing completely.

Lloyd fell to his knees, his body going numb. The memories were fresh in Lloyd's mind--Luke's memories. His life, his mistakes.

His atonement.

Even though Luke had not given it voice, his last words still echoed in Lloyd's mind--

_Thank you ... and goodbye._

Alone in the deepest levels of Shadow's dungeon, Lloyd collapsed and cried.


End file.
